History, technology, and probably some other stuff

Posts tagged ‘Video’

What could you do with one million minutes of historical YouTube video clips? If I’ve done my arithmetics correctly, that’s almost 7000 days or just over 19 years worth of video goodness. What could you do with that many video clips?

Deliver a base of foundational knowledge. Hook students into content. Develop writing prompts. Supplement instructional. Create a playlist of subject and period specific clips. Generate interest in a topic. Design a PBL unit around a series of related videos.

If your brain isn’t already bouncing off the walls in your head with other possible ideas, head over to the AP and Movietone YouTube channels to check out thousands of online video resources. I will guarantee that you’ll leave the vault with all sorts of possibilities.

According to their press release, the Associated Press and British Movietone, one of the world’s most comprehensive newsreel archives, are together bringing more than 1 million minutes of digitized film footage to YouTube. Showcasing the moments, people and events that shape the world, it will be the largest upload of historical news content on the video-sharing platform to date.

The two channels will act as a view-on-demand visual encyclopedia, offering a unique perspective on the most significant moments of modern history. Available for all to explore, the channels will also be powerful educational tools and a source of inspiration for history enthusiasts and documentary filmmakers.

The YouTube channels will include more than 550,000 video stories dating from 1895 to the present day. For example, viewers can see video from the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, exclusive footage of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941,Marilyn Monroe captured on film in London in the 1950s and Twiggy modeling the fashions of the 1960s.

Alwyn Lindsey, AP’s director of international archive,

The AP archive footage, combined with the British Movietone collection, creates an incredible visual journey of the people and events that have shaped our history. At AP we are always astonished at the sheer breadth of footage that we have access to, and the upload to YouTube means that, for the first time, the public can enjoy some of the oldest and most remarkable moments in history.

Stephen Nuttall, the director of YouTube in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, comments:

Making this content available on YouTube is a wonderful initiative from AP and British Movietone that will breathe new life into their footage and no doubt delight our global community – from students researching history projects to curious culture-vultures and the billions in between. It’s an historical treasure trove that will give YouTube users around the world a moving window into the past and I can’t wait to explore it.

Content on the channels will also include videos from different regions across the United Kingdom, fashion through the ages, sporting events, entertainment, extreme weather, technological innovations, the evolution of eating and drinking habits, political milestones and historical moments. They will be continually refreshed with up-to-date contemporary footage.

The archive is split into two YouTube channels: AP offers both historical and up-to-the-minute political, sports, celebrity, and science (with “new content every day”). The British Movietone channel is solely historical, with much of its content coming from the 1960s.

One of the first people who welcomed me to ESSDACK 15 years ago was Tammy Worcester. Even back then Tammy was a rock star, publishing books and posting powerful tips on her site – Tammy’s Technology Tips for Teachers. And she was incredibly helpful as I settled into the ESSDACK world.

Several years ago, Tammy left the Hutchinson office and moved east. She still works for ESSDACK but we don’t often enough have the pleasure of spending time with her face to face. So, of course, when she’s doing an ISTE session, I want to be there.

Because she’s still a rock star. Bigger even. Because she’s got great stuff to share. Read more

We’re all very aware of the stereotypical social studies teacher. Former jock. Current coach. Always busy with game plans and practice schedules. Hands out worksheet packets on Monday with a test on Friday. Constantly interspersed with movies and videos along the way.

We also know that the stereotype very seldom rings true. I was a coach for years. We all know great social studies teachers who teach and coach. I get the chance to wander the world working with all sorts of excellent social studies teachers. Keil Hileman in the Kansas City metro area district of De Soto uses 25,000 historical artifacts as part of instruction. He was the Kansas teacher of the year several years ago. Nathan Mcalister in Royal Valley MS simulates Civil War surgery with original medical tools, hosts a yearly history fair with kids hacking out canoes and building sod houses. His kids pushed an actual bill through both houses of the Kansas legislature. He was selected as the Gilder Lehrman national teacher of the year.

Kori Green routinely connects her students with kids around the world in live chats as they solve authentic problems. Jon Bauer teaches in one of the most isolated places in the state of Kansas while implementing all sorts of powerful learning activities. Activities such as having 8th graders rank historical events and developing a March Madness tournament as an end of year summative assessment. Jill Weber uses a variety of technologies to encourage high levels of learning including a TV Reality Show Pitch.

And yes. There are some teachers who perhaps could work a bit harder on their instructional design. I’ve seen those as well. But here’s the thing. Read more

I’m sure most of you are doing the same thing I’m doing right now. Spending time with family and friends, watching football, catching up on that book you’ve been dying to read, eating too much, and enjoying the occasional nap.

Between now and the first week in January, you’ll get a chance to re-read some of the top posts of 2014. I may decide to jump in with something current but if I don’t, enjoy this Holiday Goodie rerun.

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Yup. I’m a history geek. I’m a member of the History Book Club, I love maps, I stop and read every historical marker before driving past, I spent most of a morning three weeks ago quizzing the docent in the Northfield, Minnesota history museum on the 1876 raid by the James Gang, and I have the Band of Brothers DVD series memorized.

So where do I go when I need a good YouTube video?

Here are five very sweet YouTube channels that are great places for you and your kids.

HipHughes History
Keith Hughes has taught US History and Government and AP American Government for the past 15 years as well as edu classes in New Literacy and Technology for the Graduate School of Education at the University of Buffalo.

HipHughes History is a series of upbeat, personable and educational lectures designed for students and lifelong learners. Videos primarily focus on US History and Politics but span across World History and general interest. So sit back and enjoy the antics of HipHughes as he melds multimodality into a learning experience.

I’ll be honest. I heard from a teacher in Medicine Lodge a few weeks ago about a tool called Zaption, promised myself that I’d check it out later, and then completely forgot all about. Then this morning, I get a promo email from the company detailing the tool’s “high-quality, ready-made content, intuitive interface, and rich analytics” and urging me to go to their site to learn more.

So.

Am feeling a bit unsettled. I get a lot of emails and offers of free stuff from people who are pushing their products and web sites. And I usually blow them off. Unless, of course, the price is right. I had planned to share Zaption with you anyway but doing it on the same day that I get the official sales pitch seems a bit like a sellout to the Man.

But I do really like the tool and believe there’s some nice potential for social studies teachers, especially those who are already flipping or are thinking about flipping their classrooms. I’m gonna let you decide for yourself if and when you might use Zaption. If you have an opinion one way or the other, let us know in the comments. I’d love to hear what others think of the tool.

Mark Hofer and Kathy Swan suggest that students are great consumers of information but aren’t necessarily great producers of information.

And the Common Core and new NCSS standards are asking our kids to do more creating. What does that look like? Mark and Kathy see great possibilities with new technologies that support student-created documentaries.

They’re very convincing. Video creation can align to reading and writing and communicating skills required in the Common Core literacy standards. Video can align to historical content. Video can be engaging.

But, they warn, beware the green pancake. Eating a green pancake will get someone’s attention but the pancake doesn’t taste any different or provide any more nutrition. It’s just green. But we can get very excited about it because, well . . . it’s green. So it must be really good.

It’s the shiny object idea I’ve talked about before. Technology, while important, is not necessary in every step of the documentary creation process. Make sure that kids are focused on the gathering of social studies content, on answering big ideas and rich questions, and on creating original solutions. Then you can begin to incorporate technology.

Mark talked about the idea of using Evidence-Based Arguments as a starting point. Every historical investigation needs to begin with a great question. Then they asked kids to do research and create videos. But what they got was disappointing. What they got was basically text with pictures, a script with a background. It wasn’t a story, it wasn’t engaging, and it often didn’t really answer the question. They begin to realize that they needed to learn more about how to create high-quality documentaries, how to use images and video to actually tell a story.

And eventually they came up with a Four Step Process that students work through to create high-quality documentaries: Read more

Thanks for dropping by! As a curriculum specialist and consultant for ESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, I get the opportunity to chat all day long about social studies and technology. Feel free to poke around!

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